Product Description

Terrible, unspeakable things happened to Sethe at Sweet Home, the farm where she lived as a slave for so many years until she escaped to Ohio. Her new life is full of hope but eighteen years later she is still not free. Sethe's new home is not only haunted by the memories of her past but also by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11773 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. She is the author of many novels, including The Bluest Eye, Beloved (made into a major film), Paradise and Love. She has also received the National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize for her fiction.

Customer Reviews

Lasting and Luminous
I had never heard of Toni Morrison before this book was suggested as the next read at my book club, although she has been honoured with a Nobel Prize for Literature. After reading "Beloved" I can see why she won the Pulitzer Prize for this haunting novel. The book is written in a style which is at first hard to get used to, and I found the first eighty pages or so challenging. However, the beauty and poetry of the narrative is penetrating, and perfectly contrasts with the brutality of the plot.
The novel revolves around Sethe: her struggle for freedom from the oppressive and highly disturbing life that she leads as a slave, and the shocking and heartbreaking decision she comes to in order to 'save' her children from such a life. When a stranger arrives at her door the lives of Sethe and those closest to her are changed forever.
"Beloved" is a novel which has stayed with me long after I read the last page, and is a must-read for any serious literature lover.

Stunning and moving
A previous reader review shared the opinion that 'reading should not be such hard work'. I disagree. Sometimes a truly great book shouldn't be something that is easy to read as the back of a cornflake packet. It should challenge you, make you read closely, pay the book the attention it deserves. 'Beloved' is a wonderful book. Beautifully written, so very moving. It's difficult to use the word 'enjoyable' about it, concerning as it does the subject of slavery, but it's enjoyable because of its quality. The novel makes me want to know more about how the real former slaves dealt with 'freedom'. Their grandparents/great grandparents wrenched from their African homelands, forbidden from speaking their own language, bought and sold, their children taken from them. Toni Morrison's done an amazing thing in writing this book, giving voice to the voiceless.

Don't bother!
I had heard so much about this author and in particular this book, I couldn't wait to read it. I tried and tried but simply couldn't get into it. I have very rarely given up on a book, but I let this one give me up. Reading should not be such hard work.